THE FRUSTRATING SERVANT

Computers and computer related instruments drive many of us crazy.  When they work like they are supposed to, they are obedient servants that perform tasks we cannot. 

Computers compute.  They compute at speeds we cannot image.  Hence, they can process millions of calculations in less time than it takes for us to give them the task.  Computers spend a lot of time waiting – waiting for us to type in an instruction or click on a key telling them what to do next.

Many people find it difficult to co-exist with the computers in their lives.  They throw up their hands and exclaim in disgust, “I don’t understand computers; won’t have one in my house.”

The problem with that statement is that computers are now found in so many parts of our lives that we dare not try to fool ourselves that we don’t understand them and won’t have one in the house.  We already have them in our houses and in our lives.  Modern homes with climate control systems are controlled by one or more computers in the heating system and in the temperature control module on the hall wall.  Modern cars will not operate without their numerous internal computers, most of which we don’t know exist … until they cease to function.  The ubiquitous cell phones, now in nearly every purse or pocket, are simply portable computers that perform multiple functions, sometimes the least of which is to make and receive phone messages.

And therein lays the problem: we ask modern devices to perform multiple tasks.

We long for the good old days.  We want to equate the computer and all the computer devices to the simple telephone.  “I did not have to know how the telephone works to make a phone call.  I just picked up the received, dialed my number, waited for the person on the other end to pick up, and the talked.”

Actually, if you re-read that last sentence, you will see that you did have to know how the phone worked.  You had to perform several tasks for the phone before it could perform for you.  But that aside, the phone was mostly a single function implement.  Modern computers, especially those cell phones we have all come to rely on, are multi-function devices.

As with all tools and electronic equipment, it is incumbent upon us to understand how the tool works, not the other way around.  A simple telephone on the wall in the kitchen will not work for you until you pick it up and go through the correct dialing procedure.  Computers in all forms require that we learn how they think, how they do what they do.  They have an algorithm for each task they perform.  That will not change regardless of how often we swear or throw them across the room.  We must learn how the computer, the cell phone, the iPad, or whatever thinks.  These pieces of computer equipment will never learn how we think.

Computers are obedient servants, performing task that are beyond human comprehension sometimes and certainly beyond human ability.  Nevertheless, they can be frustrating servants.  The difference between most of us and the computer geeks we know (our grandchildren) is that they have taken the time to understand what their computer can and cannot do.  When we adults recognize that, we will be on the road to understanding (and enjoying) the various computers in our lives.

A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR AMERICA

The president is scheduled to appear before a joint session of congress tonight, according to advanced reports, to make a speech on his new proposed jobs program.  Predictably, many Republican members of congress have already signaled that they will oppose anything he proposes.

Now, isn’t that ridiculous?

Yes, they have advanced information on the gist of his speech.  For all I know, they have a copy of the complete text of his speech.  Just the same, to announce ahead of time that you are against anything he has to propose seems to explain in a nutshell what is wrong with Washington these days.

Both political parties are dead set against voting for or participating in any sort of compromise discussions that may allow the other party to take credit for anything.  Our political leaders (?) have adopted the position: If they are for it, I’m against it.  End of discussion.  The result is statemate. 

To make matters worse, and things in Washington are getting worse by the day, opponents never seem compelled to state what they are for, nor to propose a modification of the program or bill they are against.  And then they wonder why the approval ratings of congress are at a historic low.  They don’t even try to explain themselves anymore; they leave that for the right- or left-wing radio and television pundits – who, of course, are not elected officials and can say anything they want.

WE CAN PUT A STOP TO THIS NONSENSE!

Here is a homework assignment for YOU this evening.  First, every adult should vow to watch the president’s speech tonight, regardless of party or religious affiliations.  Second, and this is the hard part, the part that our congress people are unwilling or unable to do, you must find at least one thing in his speech that you can agree with and one thing that you disagree with.  Third, you must send an email to your congress person indicating those two points.

We won’t all agree on the same point, nor will we all disagree on the same point.  But each of these points, the pro and the con, can be the starting point for your representative in Washington to use as basis for compromise discussions.  And you must acknowledge that there won’t just be a couple of each.  A voter in Nebraska may find one thing to agree with that a voter in New York didn’t even notice, and vice versa.  Collectively we will give our representatives some ideas (from their constituents) to begin discussions for an effective jobs-creation program.  They will have no more excuses for sitting around doing nothing other than sniping at the opposing party’s proposal.

Let us, ordinary, man-on-the-street American, take back control of Washington.  It is not realistic to talk about voting “all the bums” out of office.  It is realistic to talk about several million people putting aside our prejudices long enough to actually listen to the President’s speech tonight and picking out one item on which we agree with him and one on which we disagree.  Then we can get on the Internet and send those two items to our representatives in Washington with the clear instruction that we want THEM to act on our views.  No excuses, no finger pointing, no spin, no media moments in front of the TV camera.  Just get the damn job done and get America back to work – now!

THE OLD AND THE NEW

I  suppose that, like me, you have heard an “older” person say, “I don’t have one of those and don’t intend to.  I don’t even know how to turn one on, and don’t intend to learn.”  They may have been talking about a computer, a smart phone, and iPod or some other electronic gadget.

Yet, you can be sure they have in their house a television set, a telephone, a phonograph player (33rpm no doubt) and, possibly, a CD player.  All of these were new electronic gadgets in their day.  I can remember a few older relatives complaining back when I was a youth that they didn’t see any sense in having more than one telephone (the one in the hallway) in the house.  Mom later convinced them she could use an extension in the kitchen.  These same people were slow, even reluctant, to move from calling central to using a dial phone, and later, a push button phone.

Progress marches on and we’d better keep up or we will surely be left behind.  Our children and grandchildren are justified in thinking: You’re too old to understand.  Wait until you are younger.  For some of us do indeed act as if we are too old; our brains have solidified and we are incapable of learning anything more, which, of course, is absurd.  We are just being obstinate or lazy.

Not too many years ago, during our vagabond days in the Chuckwagon, my wife and I, along with others in a campground, lined up at the bank of pay phones waiting our turn to call home and check in with our family.  When we embraced the modern technology of cell phones, we avoided all the waiting in line.  Some people then said they didn’t understand cell phones and wouldn’t have one if you gave it to them.  Today, just about every senior citizen I know has a cell phone, usually two, one for the husband and one for the wife.  And increasingly, they are discovering what we learned at least ten years ago: we no longer need a land line in our house.  Since we travel a lot every year, it made little sense to have a land line back at the house that we seldom used.  Our cell phones went with us everywhere; friends and family and the doctor’s office, could call us anytime, anywhere.

Recently, my daughters, with the encouragement of one techo-savvy granddaughter, purchased for me an iPhone to replace my Blackberry phone.  It has many amazing features besides serving as a means by which I can place and receive telephone calls.  One of the more interesting is the face-to-face feature, the ability to talk with someone and see them at the same time.  A program called Skype allows you to do this on your computer, provided it has a web camera.  The iPhone has this built in with a front-facing camera that takes your picture as you talk and sends it to the person with whom you are talking – provided that person has the ability to receive such an image.

So what?  Well, for starters, that feature allowed my wife and me to talk face to face with our granddaughter, Leslie, who called from college the other evening to chat.  She was away from home for the first time and just needed to talk to and see a familiar face or two.  We had a very nice 20 minute conversation from our place in Colorado while she was in her dorm room in New York.  That’s special.

Equally special was the phone conversation, in face-to-face mode, with a high school friend who called recently.  We had not seen each other in over 10 years, but we had the opportunity to chat face to face while I was in Colorado and he was in Hong Kong, China.  He learned that I had a web cam and called to talk about our upcoming 60^th class reunion that he will be unable to attend.  I invited him to call again on the day of the reunion as I planned to have my computer and web cam set up so he could talk face to face with classmates at the reunion.  He promised to do so.  And I know of at least one other classmate who cannot make the reunion because of health reasons who plans to call that day as well.

Technology has always been a challenge for some, but we all get on board with the new gadgets sooner or later.  Some people, remember, resisted getting one of those new-fangled horseless carriages and now, we can’t live without our cars. 

Some of us would rather embrace our fears.  We will not let success keep us from failure, or in the case of developing technology, we will not let the opportunity to enjoy a bold new world keep us from wallowing in our self-imposed internment of ignorance.